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The Health Science Education complex was opened on campus in 2015. UNK has experienced more enrollment in Pre-Health professions, higher employment rates following graduation and has expanded the programs offered since HSEC’s opening.

The success of the complex has led to UNK and UNMC proposing a second complex.

“We’ve had nursing on campus since 1991 with UNMC,” said Dr. Charles Bicak, senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. “In 2015 we built HSEC and expanded the programs offered at UNK. Now nearly seven years later, we’re on the verge of expanding on that original project, a casual name for it being HSEC Phase Two.”

The second phase will focus on nursing programs as well as others.

“[This complex] intends on expanding nursing in undergraduate and graduate programs, and for the first time UNMC will be adding occupational therapy programs available to students,” Bicak said. “For the first time, the College of Medicine, The College of Pharmacy and The College of Public Health will all have a presence in this plan.”

The plan is an upwards of $85 million project.

“It would be a combination of prospective support from the state of Nebraska and then also private donation support,” Bicak said. “This is still an estimate as we don’t have a design yet, but we have a project statement that identifies that we want to provide spaces for each of these specialty areas.”

The proposed complex is ultimately meant to provide for rural communities of Nebraska.

“We are well poised to provide for communities in central Nebraska and the surrounding states,” Bicak said. “The idea is to provide these kinds of medical professions to the communities that need them. ”